Chapter 12: Gold Mine
Tammy was glowing with happiness. After meeting Dan she pulled Mei aside and gave her approval: “Told ya, he’s a keeper, don’t let this one slip from your hands.”
Mei almost could picture Dan as a big screen TV deal on Black Friday with too many people waiting in line, couldn’t wait to get their hands on him.
The dinner went really well, Randy sat in between Tammy and Mei and would not stop talking to her about his plans to digitalize his newspaper empire. He knew Mei’s in IT and assumed she would be interested in the topic. Mei didn’t mind. Ever since Tammy’s Mom died, Randy was so thankful for what Mei did for his daughter that he became like an adopted father to her.
Though Tammy and her father did most of the talking that night, Mei felt exhausted by the end of the party and was so glad when it was over.
On their drive home, Mei could see Dan had something on his mind. Before she could say something, he carefully asked without looking at her, “I hope it was OK with you… to say I am your boyfriend.”
Mei heard a trace of anxiety in his voice and suddenly felt guilty: “Dan, it’s OK with me. I am glad you said that.”
“Really? Good.”Dan seemed relived at Mei’s concurrence, after a short pause, his voice went back to being cheerful: “So, great party! Oh and your boss; looked pretty young to be in that position.”
Mei wasn’t sure if that was a question or statement; she turned her head to look out the side window: “I thought the same thing at first…”
“And?”
“And… actually they made the right decision, he deserved that job.” Mei was surprised at her own words; she realized there was not a bit of resentment left in her toward Jesse anymore.
Dan looked at Mei just for a short second before turning his focus back to the road: “You looked a little distracted tonight, was there something bothering you?”
“No, I am fine, just tired, you know now I finally know where Tammy got her talkativeness from…” Mei hoped that was convincing enough; because the whole night she was distracted by trying very hard to stop herself from looking over towards the corner booth where Golden Boy and Barbie sat.
Troy Carson’s office is located on the top floor of the D&W HQ building, with big floor to ceiling windows overlooking the parking lot and route 285 that was not too far away. The cherry colored executive desk sits right in front of the window, across from the door. The office is spacious, big enough to have a separate sitting area made up with 2 black leather couches facing each other and a small cherry coffee table in between.
Last time Jesse was in this office was for his interview. What he remembered most about Troy was he is smart as a whip at the same time humble enough to not make others feel stupid. Although Jesse wasn’t sure about the purpose of the meeting, he was eager to find out.
“Jesse, please, come in and have a seat.” Troy stood up from behind his desk and walked over to shake Jesse’s hand at the door. Troy is in his mid 50’s, tall, muscular with broad shoulders. It is common knowledge that he competes in amateur body building contests and had even won a few times. He has a high pitch voice, not matching the strong, macho appearance.
After some small talk Troy motioned Jesse to sit over at the couch.
“So, we have just received the official award to the CNR contract. Congratulations! You did a fantastic job on it.”
Is this what he wanted to talk about? That was yesterday’s news. Jesse was smart enough to play along: “Thank you sir, it was a team effort. Actually I have just submitted a list of names for cash awards, in appreciation to their hard work on this project.”
“Very nice…” Troy seemed pleased at Jesse’s response and continued with a smile, “working hard is not a problem for most people, but a modest attitude is where people fall short, especially at your age.”
“Mr. Carson, I appreciate the opportunity to be part of this project and this company, hopefully I have not disappointed you.” Even though Troy has been praising Jesse from left to right, somehow Jesse felt the meeting is not as friendly as it seems.
“Call me Troy.” Troy laughed and patted him on the shoulder, “Jesse, what do you think of the new tax bill that Congress is trying to pass?”
The sharp turn on the subject caught Jesse off guard, “Well, the new tax code will definitely take a hit on small businesses, but I don’t believe D&W will be affected much…” Jesse knew big companies like D&W has a few tricks up their sleeves when it comes to avoiding paying their fair share in taxes.
“Oh, we will be fine. What I mean is if that bill’s passed, it would be a great opportunity for us to expand our customer base to the Department of Commerce, you know IRS will be a great start.”
So this is what the meeting’s really about, Jesse sat back and now he’s all ears.
“One of the big money pits lies with their IT modernization Department. The rumor is with this bill, they will finally receive enough budgets from Congress to revamp the entire IT infrastructure to handle real big-data. This is something our company is very interested in. If handled correctly, there is possibility to expand D&W’s entire federal portfolio by half, if not more.” Troy stood up and with an extended hand reaching over to Jessie, “You have done a great job with CNR. The company, and I personally, cannot wait to see what you will do for this project. What do you say Jesse? Am I looking at the new Program Director to lead D&W into a new era of federal IT contracts?”
Wow, Jesse sure didn’t see this coming. The promotion almost looks too good to be true and definitely something he cannot pass on. Without hesitation, he stood up and shook Troy’s hand: “Thank you for the opportunity. I am really looking forward to the challenge.”
They talked more in detail about the administrative stuff, Jesse has a week to pick a handful of people from anywhere within the company to form his new team. He and his team will be moving up to the top floor, for easier access to Troy and other VPs, or the other way around. He is going to provide progress report to the VPs on a weekly basis. And all this will be done before the bill is even passed!
It wasn’t until when he get back to his office that Jesse remembered about a conversation between him and Elaina when she was here visiting, she had invited him to a dinner at her Dad’s in a couple of weeks where some “important IRS people” will be attending as well. Looks like everyone’s trying to get their share at the gold mine; Jessie bowed his head and prayed that God would watch over him and guide him on the right path for the journeys ahead.
